Social Media in the Middle East and North Africa

At the Social Media Enterprise 2011 Conference in Dubai in February, Yasser AlKharobi, Head of Corporate Marketing, Rotana Media in Saudi Arabia - a prominent Middle East social media visionary - gave the opening presentation on the huge opportunties for business in the Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA).  He summaries the tone of his presentation in this short video,  There is no more "communication" in marketing and PR - it's now got to be "social communication".

Social Media on the Move

Dubai: One of the Wow factors of the Social Media Enterprise conference was the stats on the popularity of social media in the Middle East and North Africa.  The most striking thing is that mobile exceeds ADSL subscriptions by a long way, so people are interacting on the move and they love it.  There are over 1.6m mobile accounts in Saudi Arabia alone.   There are 900 local social media sites in Saudi and 6 months ago, Arabic domain names in Arabic script became available although delegates were not sure what impact this would have -  Facebook remains the big player here.   But in many parts of MENA, it's considered inappropriate for women to post pictures of themselves, and there remains big concerns about the propriety and safety of women using social media.     Many companies are successfully using social media in MENA, including Burger King, Ethihad and even Viagra.  But it's clear you need the help of local agencies who understand the cultural and religious differences of consumers here.  In Saudi male social media users exceed female users three to one, for example.

The other big topic at the conference was how companies are using Foursquare to market themselves in MENA.   People here, like everywhere else, like a bargain or special offer! This application detects your location and finds venues or shops which are very close and wish to tempt you in with special discounts or offers.  Restaurants and cafes are using this very successfully.

Across the world there are 5.3bn mobile cell subscrptions (some people have more than one of course) and nearly 1 billion people in 143 countries use 3G.  Loads of potential for growth.  And over 55s useage of mobile networking is up 12 per cent year-on-year defying stereotyping.  And as was pointed out at the conference, companies are waking up to the fact that this age group have money to spend.

Egypt and Twitter

At the Social Media Enterprise Forum in Dubai.   Speakers from all over the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and India and just me from London. Learned more about the Arab world in two days than I've learned in years.  All the talk at the conference is of course about Egypt and the role social networking is playing (and also in Tunisia, which unbelievably seems a long time ago).  The jury is out about how twitter was used - we need to see the post event analysis from the experts.   Yasser AlKharobi who is the Head of Corporate Marketing at the Rotana Media Group in Saudi spoke about how social media is used across MENA.  Before the crisis, 40 per cent of all internet use in Egypt was on social networking and only 16 per cent on news.    The figures post the crisis will be gripping.

Of course the use of twitter in organising causes and protests is beyond doubt.  We saw it in London at the student fees demos.  But there were protests and uprisings (see the fall of the Iron Curtain) before Twitter. What is interesting is HOW it was used and to what extent it truly changed the speed of events.   I think I'll be looking most closely at the views of the Arab social networking experts I've met at this conference when it's time to make an assessment.

What's also interesting is the many different ways people in Egypt tried to get round the Egyptian government pulling the plug on the internet.

Spreading the love on TV screens near you

Sitting in an American airport lounge waiting for my flight, I was drawn to the TV set by some breaking news that Delta and Northwest Airlines were to merge.   The announcement was a big moment for both companies and was being headlined on CNN.    It struck me that in places like airline lounges a great deal of news is consumed on giant TVs with the sound turned low.    So the strap the news channel writes is the first and lasting (and possibly only) impression many viewers will get of your story.  Some, like me, will be drawn closer to the screen to hear more.  Others will park the information in their minds.   But what do you do if the strap is not to your liking?  Answer: unless it is factually inaccurate - nothing.   The straps are not usually written by the reporters, but the production desk of the news channel.  If the strap is inaccurate, you should always challenge it quickly.   But ringing to say you don't like their "take" on the story, unless it is manifestly unfair, is pointless and won't win you credit.

In this case, full marks to the Delta/NorthWest merger press team.   With a nod to Delta's cheesy but fun Spreading the Love ad campaign CNN wrote the strap SPREADING THE CHEAP AIR FARES LOVE.    It brought me to the screen and I doubt that the airlines were unhappy with the summary.  If it was the only thing you saw of the story, it did the trick.

Santa Eugenio is coming to town!

Off topic, but it's coming up to Christmas, so why not?   I've just received details of the pretty enticing Christmas hospitality on offer at the Intercontinental Grand Stanford Hotel in Hong Kong.  The Intercon Grand Stanford has a thing about food.   But how about popping in for a special Christmas meal, prepared by the wonderfully named Santa Eugenio?   Pop over to Hong Kong and have Christmas dinner with Santa.  See above for what Santa has in store for you this Christmas.

Chef Leung's Tastebook page

 

 

Tina di Cicco, the inestimable Director of Communications at the Intercontinental Grand Stanford Hotel Hong Hotel, was thinking one day about Chef Leung Fai Hung.   

 

His restaurant at the hotel, Hoi King Heen, is well-known amongst foodies for its upscale Cantonese cuisine, of which he is a Master.   Tina wanted to bring Chef Leung to a wider audience.  

 

A simple idea - create a Facebook page for Chef Leung (which he writes) - turned into something more when a local journalist colleague of Tina's decided to create an event and invite fellow fans to join together at the restaurant one evening.  The idea snowballed and more than 60 came, including many journalists, filling the Hoi King Heen full of people who didn't know each other, but whose common bond was the love of great Cantonese food.

 

What's more, they paid their own bill.  Is this the first press facility in history organised and funded entirely by the media themselves?

 

They've become Chef Leung's Facebook friends.  He posts pictures, gets feedback and alludes to secret ingredients.  They continue to make pilgrimages to the Master.

 

Tina's now in Singapore and you can catch her presentations on using social media at conferences in Asia-Pacific.   Tina keeps it simple, keeps it creative and looks for the impact on revenue!   She is prima bloggerina assoluta.

 

 

If you're sad, please tell your face

I spoke recently at a conference of PR Directors in Singapore, where delegates discussed the aftermath of the bus hijacking in Manila in which eight Hong Kong tourists died.

Rather than the management of the hijack itself, which received blanket criticism in the media and in diplomatic circles, the feature of the crisis that was uppermost in the delegates minds was the demeanour of the President of the Phillipines, Benigno Aquino, who appeared to smile while making a grave statement in response to the tragedy . If you look at the discussion below the video clip, it's all focussed on the President's facial expression and why he smiled. It may have been nervousness, but it led to the smile being a negative focus of attention and not what was intended as a sombre message of tough action by the Phillipines Government.

Delegates compared his performance with that of the Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang, whose grave delivery and measured words commanded respect.  He described the incident as "disappointing" - an understatement almost certainly designed to avoid raising tension in Hong Kong, where there was growing public anger and where large numbers of Phillipine citizens live and work.

There were two lessons from the discussion: firstly that facial expression, demeanour, posture and general appearance will define how your words are judged. Secondly, you need to train and prepare for such a moment.